Catholic Herald, 24 July 2017

What matters most is the enrichment of the Novus Ordo, which can happen independently of any changes to the Old Rite

Cardinal Robert Sarah’s call for “liturgical reconciliation” between the Extraordinary Form (EF) and Ordinary Form (OF) of the Mass, written for the tenth anniversary of Summorum Pontificum earlier this month – and my comment upon it in these pages – generated a quick, thoughtful, and mostly negative reaction from the EF community. The responses are noteworthy.

I learned that the expression “liturgical reconciliation”, which Cardinal Sarah proposed to replace “reform of the reform”, can actually be found in Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s memoir Milestones:

When liturgy is self-made, however, then it can no longer give us what its proper gift should be: the encounter with the mystery that is not our own product but rather our origin and the source of our life. A renewal of liturgical awareness, a liturgical reconciliation that again recognizes the unity of the history of the liturgy and that understands Vatican II, not as a breach, but as a stage of development: these things are urgently needed for the life of the Church.

That’s notable, as “reform of the reform” was identified with Cardinal Ratzinger, and moving away from it might be thought to be a distancing from his liturgical ideas. In the case of “liturgical reconciliation” that it is not the case.